Within the LinkedIn community currently there is a steady flow of thoughtful dialogue taking place on the topic of how the SME community could conceivably take greater responsibility for its own destiny.
One point of this discussion – that being the question of would it be beneficial for any form of “Small Business Institution” to be integrated into the tertiary education provider framework – has prompted me to write this article.
I graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor Degree in Business in 1990. Since then I have been fortunate to have worked in a range of senior roles across a diverse range of industries. This exposure has helped me phenomenally to understand why so many businesses fail and where a certain amount of disconnect has existed between academia and the real world of business. Hence why I wrote this book in 2016:
Since 2016 I have been helping both the business community and academia to understand the same knowledge that I have developed over 25 years, in a bid to help reduce the business failure rate in at least New Zealand. And we’re starting to win. Why ? Because, like myself, there are others who genuinely understand this knowledge and want to improve the quality of life for themselves and others; and are now seeing that commerce actually needs to be taught and practiced from a “humanities” perspective. Specifically, that it is because of the “needs of people” that businesses exist in the first place…and that this has always been the case and will always be the case.
I was delighted to have been offered the opportunity to lecture at the Eastern Institute of Technology in 2017 – and then again in 2018. Why ? Because these experiences are helping me to:
a) Effect change for the better by giving something of myself to both students and the wider business community; and
b) Put far greater emphasis on teaching from a “needs” and “humanities” based perspective than providing commerce students with facts and figures which largely stem from an abstract/ theoretical knowledge base; and
c) Help students to think through commercial problems/ issues/ opportunities for themselves (i.e. perform critical analysis) – and in doing so cause the “spark of innovation” to ignite in the minds of these students. Students who expect to be subject to “rote learning” (regurgitation of facts) should not enroll in courses that I teach. 🙂
So how do I view the appropriateness of the suggested “Small Business Institute (SBI)” being an integral part of the tertiary education environment ? These are my considered opinions…
i. If the right people (i.e. those who have proven “real world” commercial backgrounds) are available in (or to) tertiary institutions in order to implement the model devised by the SBI then I would have confidence that indeed the SBI model could be successfully integrated and delivered within the tertiary education environment.
ii. The governance structure (a single Board with governance responsibilities that span N.Z. as a whole) should be separate to that of any given tertiary education provider. However, representation from the SBI Board of Directors should be provided for within both the Ministry of Education and MBIE.
iii. All resources required to deliver the SBI model should be developed under the SBI; and not be subject to the NZQA framework as it currently stands.
iv. The Mission Statement of the SBI should be centered on the quest: “To develop, maintain and deliver a world class business education and consulting experience which enables and empowers most particularly SME Kiwi businesses”.
v. If the Regional Business Partner (RBP) programme is to coexist alongside the SBI then the SBI knowledge base must be reflected in the scope and nature of knowledge that is delivered within the RBP framework. There must be a close alignment between the knowledge that is imparted by these two nationally represented organisations.
vi. The nature of the knowledge/ information delivered under the SBI banner must be highly practical and reflective of current day proven best business practices; and this knowledge base must evolve as/ when observed best practices change over time.
vii. The general orientation of the SBI knowledge base that is used to teach/ consult from must be skewed towards “human needs and relationships” far more so than technical/ theoretical knowledge (leave the university system to concentrate on the latter). Fundamentally it is by businesses focusing on “human needs and relationships” first and foremost that financial transactions eventuate.
viii. There should be nil/ no requirement for students/ business people to be tested on their acquired knowledge; but a part of the engagement process is for the teacher/ consultant to perform a follow-up visit to the student/ business person to learn what impact their engagement with the SBI had on their business/ role in the business community.
Client-Service Provider relationship confidentiality would prevail. Coalface delivery methods could include: role playing, assistance with documentation (e.g. Strategic Plan, marketing brief) preparation, resolving specific commercial issues/ problem/ opportunities, referral to other organisations, etc.
It could be an expectation that those local business people who have engaged with the SBI are forthcoming in accepting an invitation from the SBI to be a (university/ SBI) guest presenter at some point in time and/ or to provide a testimonial which SBI can publish. In this way clients (students/ business people) would be helping to build the brand reputation (and popularity) of the SBI.
viii. The SBI knowledge base must permeate into the key organisations across N.Z. that are involved in helping develop commercial capability. For example: Retail NZ, Manufacturers Association, Chambers of Commerce, etc. This would be a critical goal to achieve in order for all such organisations to be singing from the same song sheet.
The SBI should rightfully become the vessel that leads the SME flotilla and organisations associated with SME’s in an advisory capacity, on a well contemplated charted course henceforth.